01 diciembre 2008

The Child and the Magic Boxby Iurgi Ruiz de Gauna Itza

Once upon a time in a far country two kids were playing and chatting for the last time, as one of them was leaving soon."Do you remember that box I found sometime ago?""Which one? The one you found meanwhile playing with me?""Yes, that one""Do you still keep it?""Yes and I want to give it to you before I leave." taking it out from his backpack. "I really like it, it's really beautiful, but I do not think that I can take it with me. I always thought that it hid something inside but I never knew how to open it, as I did not want to damage it. So lately it was just in one corner of my room. Long time ago you said that you liked it so I want to give it to you as farewell present""Thank you very much, I really like it!"

Some days later the lonely child, still sad without his friend, started to play with the box. It was really beautiful. Colors, delicately shaped forms. He did not know why, but being next to it made him feel happy again.

Days came and went and he began to think that may be his friend had being on the right track. The box seemed to hide something inside. There were some strange characters carved on it. But he could not understand them. Somehow they were familiar, on the other hand strange. But he was persistent, so he tried to solve the enigma everyday.

A day, two days, three days, a week, two weeks... No solution. Sometimes he though he was close to achieve it, but later, no way. After one month he was thinking to give up.

Finally he stared long to the box and he just said "could you open?" Nothing happened. But some minutes later slowly, doubtfully, the box started to open itself.

Inside there was a new box. This new box was similar... and different. It was even more beautiful, but with some small deep scars, less smooth, a wilder beauty. When he held it in his hands the feel was strange, warm but also cold on the same time.

The kid was happier than ever with the new box. Everything was new. He spent most of his time playing with it. He recognized again those small characters carved on it, again familiar and strange. And the feeling of this new box also hiding something inside, a little barely hearable murmur coming from inside, like a whisper or may be an almost silent moan.

Two weeks later the child knew the box by heart, every corner, every character, all its colors. The more he looked at it the more beautiful it was for him. And he discovered that the box was magic! It could move! It could fly!

He was walking with the box in his hands and tripped, he dropped the box, but before it crashed against the floor it just floated and gently land on the floor. The kid was surprised. So he tried to dropped it again. The box this time just flied away and whenever the child got close to it, it moved further, behaving like a puppy afraid of being hurt. The strange sound from inside the box was more audible in that moment.

Since then the box moved next to him sometimes, went away other times. It seemed that it liked to be close to him but afraid of being damaged. Sometimes he waked up in the morning and he could see the box laying next to him, calm, warm. And when he played with it too intensely, throwing it to the air, or whatever, it seemed to get angry or afraid and fly away.

The kid was happy with the box. It was very special. Completely different to anything he had known before. He discovered that touching different places the sound inside changed. The characters changed their colors. He invented a lot of new games.

But he really wanted to know what was inside. He asked again to the box to open. He used his hands. But nothing worked. He was more and more frustrated.

One day he decided to try it harder and use a screwdriver. Patiently on the very beginning, trying to find any joint, any point that could help him open it. But no way. Later harder and harder till "ñiiiiiccccc", a big scratch in one of its sides! The box loosed all its warmth, suddenly was completely cold.

The child was very angry with himself. He really wanted to know what was inside, but on the other hand he could not believe he had damaged it. He decided that it was time to just leave it. Try to forget about it. Time to go back to his lonely life. Time to try to find new friends. Because, without almost noticing, he had been playing with the magic box for almost six months.

He just put the box aside in his room.

Some days later he tried to find it. But he could not. It seemed it had disappeared. He tried his best, but it was no where. "A new mystery" he thought "too many things I do not understand..."

New friends.But no one as close as the old one.New games.Every now and then thinking about the box.But he could not find it.More friends.More games.Half year.

And one day it appeared. As suddenly as it had disappeared the box appeared again. Just in the same corner where he had put it months ago. And again it looked different, this time like the mixture of previous two boxes. He held it in his hands and it was cold like ice although inside he could intuit its old warmth.

The box seemed to behave differently. Actually it was the one who moved next to him every now and then. Flying around. Like asking him to play with it. He did not want. On one hand yes, he really wanted, but on the other hand he was afraid of damaging it again. He was afraid of trying to understand and fail. He was afraid of getting angry again.

The box flied and flied around and when he tried his best to pretend he was not interested, it seemed to get angry, strange sounds coming from inside, and just vanished for some time.

Little by little the kid started to play with it. Cautiously. No rush. Soft games. And little by little the box got part of its warmth. The characters started to shine, changing colors again. The kid spent more and more time looking to them, learning them... And one day "Oh my God! How have not I been able to see it before!?". Everything made sense. The extrange characters where just very baroque letters. Some reversed, most with funny pictures above. And as they shined they created a sentence.

If YoU WAnt to op3n JUst FoLLoW m3.

"Follow you? Where?" But, of course, the box did not say anything. "Where? Are you gonna fly somewhere?" But the box was completely still. "I do not understand!!!!"

He hold the box in his hands, it was really warm. The characters themselves seemed to produce the heat every time they shined. He touched them. Every time he pressed one just as it shined a nice sound came from inside the box.

“Follow me, aaaaaaahhh!, you mean that I need just to follow the characters”. So he pressed every character at the same time as it shined meanwhile he was reciting “If you want to open just follow me”

And the box left his hands and floated in the air.

A little hole opened and something appeared from it.

A fairy. Just like Tinker Bell!

“Who are you?” the child asked."Once I was a kid like you. But everyone treat me so meanly, everyone hurt me so much, that I decided to build this boxes and just hide inside forever""But not all the people are bad. Do you think I am a bad kid?""You seem OK now. But you scratched my box as soon as you were upset, as soon as you were not able to obtain what you wanted. All the people look nice initially but finally they all hurt you. I am safer here inside.""But if you keep inside you will miss so many things, you can not see the world, you can not share things with other people, you can not feel so many things.""Here I am safe""Does it deserve?""Here I am safe!!""My grandpa says that only the ones who bet can get the price. That you need to take risks to obtain rewards. I would like to help you with this.""Why should I trust you? You hurt me once, you could do it again.""But I did not know what was inside the box..., I did not know I was hurting you, I was trying to understand..., and sometimes I am too stubborn, that's true""...""Don't you feel lonely?""I have more friends. Kids like you with whom I play.""But have you ever showed yourself, come out of the box like now?""No""So none of them really knows you...""No need, I am happy this way!""I would really want to be next to you and face the..."Interrupting: "No way. I am happy as I am. I feel safe. I should not have come out of the box..."

And she got in the box and it disappeared.

Long time later in that country far away the kid still keeps waiting. Every now and then the box appears and flies around, they play a little and as soon as he asks her to trust him and come out of the box it disappears again. Two years since the departure of his friend, two years since the start of a tale.